Weekend Meal-Time Shifts Linked to Higher Cardiovascular Risk in Men

A 14-year analysis of more than 100,000 adults in France found that larger shifts in meal timing between weekdays and weekends were associated with higher cardiovascular disease risk among men. The observational study, published in Communications Medicine, did not find a significant association among women.

Researchers from INRAE, Inserm, Sorbonne Paris Nord University, Université Paris Cité and the CNAM analyzed data from 104,806 NutriNet-Santé cohort participants followed between 2009 and 2023. They defined “eating jetlag” as the difference between the timing of a person’s first and last meals on weekdays compared with weekends or days off.

For men, each additional hour of eating jetlag was associated with an average 14% higher risk of cardiovascular disease. The corresponding association for coronary heart disease was 21% higher per additional hour. Both men whose eating window shifted earlier on weekends and those whose eating window shifted later had higher risk than men whose meal timing remained more consistent.

The study classified participants into three groups. In the “Advance” category, weekend eating windows began and ended earlier than those on weekdays, with an average shift of about two hours. The “Regular” group had similar eating windows across the week. In the “Delay” group, weekend meal timing was later, with an average shift of one hour and 40 minutes.

The researchers accounted for a range of other factors, including age, marital status, household composition, socio-occupational circumstances, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, diet and sleep. The reported associations remained after these factors were considered, including sleep duration.

The study does not establish that changing meal times causes cardiovascular disease. The researchers described it as an initial observational study and said further research is needed to determine whether the relationship is causal.

The absence of a significant association in women may reflect differences in physiological functioning, lifestyle and work-related circumstances, or the higher absolute cardiovascular disease risk observed in men, according to the research team. These explanations were presented as hypotheses rather than conclusions established by the study.

Bernard Srour, research director at INRAE, said the findings extend earlier work focused on late eating by suggesting that consistency between weekday and weekend meal schedules may also be relevant. The research examined meal-timing patterns and disease risk; it did not test a meal-scheduling intervention or demonstrate that changing eating times prevents cardiovascular disease.